


The Night Is Dark but the Sea Is Darker Still

by theOGdreymandi87



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Biting, Blood Drinking, Blood and Injury, Couch Cuddles, Couch Sex, Dirty Dancing, Drowning, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Flirting, Making Out, Organ Theft, POV Ben Solo, POV Rey (Star Wars), Pixies, Pregnancy Talk, Sirens, Swearing, Vampire!Ben, Vampires, Violence, detailed descriptions of organs, mermaid!rey, organ eating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theOGdreymandi87/pseuds/theOGdreymandi87
Summary: Ben Organa is one of few born vampires in the world, descending from an ancient line. For decades, he's been mostly solitary, forgoing any covens for a life of wandering and scenery. But his hunting grounds in a Portland, Maine bar lead him to a beautiful mysterious quarry, Rey, who is far more than she seems. Soon, he'll find out her secret...if it doesn't kill him first.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. Black Magic Woman

**Author's Note:**

> I took an idea that my friend Mimi posed and ran with it. It's taken me WAY longer than I thought it would to get this thing done so I'm just posting what I have so far in smaller chapters. I'll be updating probably once a week for the next few weeks. It's my first modern AU and my first vampire story, so please leave a comment to let me know how I did!
> 
> Also, if you notice that something isn't tagged properly, please let me know and I'll change it. Thanks! And enjoy!
> 
> Dedicated to Mimi.

The music pulsed through his head like a second heartbeat, though the rhythm thrummed much faster than his heart’s own slow machinations.To everyone else in _La Striga_ , the music would be tolerable, barely above the conversations at the tall tables scattered around the bar’s interior.But for him, the noise brought on a headache from the concentration it took to tune it out.He wasn’t there to drink, though the bourbon was excellent.No, he had other appetites to quench tonight. 

He’d last fed only three days ago — a young grad student with a strict yoga regime.But the vegan’s blood had been too light to settle his hunger any longer.So he hunted in plain sight for someone else to sate his needs.Someone who was also a hunter in their own modern human way. 

Ben Organa swirled the amber liquid in his tumbler glass, glancing at the door as a group of young women burst inside, cackles of laughter breaking through the music. He leaned into the bar counter, shifting forward in his seat as casual as any human man. He scanned the women over the rim of his glass as he lifted it to his lips, the liquor sliding over his tongue with a bite.To human eyes, the newcomers would look like any other group of highly attractive women — a sultry, doe-eyed blonde; a small, raven-haired cutie wearing a tempting red dress and deceptively sweet smile; a long-legged debutant type who’s thick, springy ringlets and dark skin made the gold colours in her outfit look like sunbeams. 

But Ben didn’t even have to scent them to know their secret. 

Pixies. 

They were the most human-like of the Fair Folk so it was common to see them gracing the bars and clubs of Portland.Always looking for a party.Always looking for company.It would be easy to select one of them for his hunger — and they’d probably go willingly even if they knew what he was. But fairy blood was too sweet to satisfy him.They were merely snacks to be sipped upon at leisure.He needed a real meal. 

He felt the breeze wash over the bar as _La Striga_ ’s door opened once again and the pixies all turned to greet a figure that nearly made him drop his drink.

Wrapped in gauzy layers of iridescent lavender and aquamarine, the young woman who entered radiated a warmth and charm that seem to enthral the whole room.He watched as heads turned to notice her. He couldn’t blame them. After all, he could barely tear his eyes away from her as well… 

From deep dimples framing pert lips.From rich, chocolate waves of long hair cascading over tanned, freckled shoulders. And from shapely legs that drew his sight to the luscious curves of her backside.In the moody lighting of the bar, she seemed to glow.

He furrowed his brows in confusion, absently pinching the hairs on his chin.She wasn’t a pixie.Yet he wasn’t sure she was human either. Pixies rarely invited human woman into their circle, especially when they were on the prowl for suitors.Ben averted his gaze and scented the air, sifting through the myriad of smells for something beyond what he already knew.It was faint, but he scented her. 

Curious.He didn’t recognize it.It wasn’t human though, that much he could tell for certain. 

Then, her eyes met his, intense and shameless.

Even from across the room, his heightened sight could still make out the bright emerald of her gaze as it bore a hole into a part of him that he had thought long gone through decades of solitude.Heat rose up from the core of him.His languid heartbeat increased a step. 

She flashed a wide grin before releasing her stare and turning from him to join her friends as if he wasn’t there.As if they hadn’t just shared something that made him ravenous.

He picked _her_. She would be the one he’d prey on tonight.Had to know her — had to know her secrets.Her name.He had to _taste_ her.No one else would satisfy his hunger tonight. 

The pixies stayed at their table, drinking and flirting and laughing raucously, until it was all Ben could do but wait for the right moment.He’d been going to this bar for nearly a year whenever he hunted and knew how it operated with accuracy.The bartender on Friday nights always picked the same first songs to open the floor with and Ben watched as he went to his phone — patched into the stereo system by a cable and selected the first tune exactly as Ben had predicted. 

Black Magic Woman.

Ben caught the bartender’s attention, lifting two fingers in a ‘V’ to indicate his drink choice.He nodded and in a moment slid him two vodka tonics with a slice of strawberry on each rim. Ben raised the glasses in thanks and stood, scanning the pixies’ table for his target.It was empty, save for one figure.Surprised that she sat alone when all her compatriots had two eager college students a piece grinding against them on the dance floor, he sauntered slow and casual towards her, trying not to look unnaturally graceful.

A human man of his height wouldn’t move with such supernatural poise, he knew. 

He shook the dark locks of his hair away from his face as he sat at the table next her.She didn’t acknowledge him — only smiled at her friends’ carefree antics.He let his eyes rove over her, her dimples, her lips, her neck.The strong pulse that beat against the soft skin there.Tender flesh he’d sink his teeth into later.He could almost taste her blood even now. 

“I was wondering when you were going to come over here,” she said, half a beat before flicking her attention wholly on him with those brilliant green eyes. Her voice carried a posh British accent. 

He smirked.“Was I that obvious?”

She leaned towards him.“What we shared back there would make anyone curious.Is that for me?”She gestured her head down at the extra drink on the table. 

He held her gaze as he slid the drink into her waiting palm.She lifted the glass to her lips without looking away and —

Scrunched her face in disgust.She swallowed the mouthful — reluctantly from what he could tell — and inspected the offending beverage. 

“Vodka tonic?Do you usually buy girls this drabble?”

Ben ran his fingers through his hair and scooted closer to her.“That’s usually the type of stuff the women who come here drink.You seem to be the rare anomaly.”He flashed her a smile, leaning in, and let his eyes drift down towards her lips. 

She grinned and shifted towards him also. “You have _no idea_ how true that is.”She settled her jaw into the palm of her hand and looked at him from under thick lashes. Her face was so near his.But she would have to come to him first. She’d have to invite him in. 

Merely an inch away from her invitation, she said, “Aren’t you going to ask me to dance?That’s why you came over here, isn’t it?”

Ben straighten up against the back of his chair, squinting his eyes in mock suspicion.He didn’t dismiss the memory of her breath tingling his lips.“You think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”

She laughed.“Not exactly.But you _did_ come to talk to me only when the music started.So it was easy to assume.”

Ben studied her features for a moment and then stood.He walked around the table to face her and extended his hand.“Join me?”

“Love to,” she replied, taking his hand in hers and sliding out of her seat. 

He lead her across to where multiple bodies were swaying and grinding to the sensual rhythm of Santana’s song.He made a path through the dancers — and away from the pixies — to a small open space on the far side of the floor.With a grin, he pulled her close until their bodies brushed against each other, barely touching and yet heating the little space between them. 

He swayed his hip forward, leading his partner into the rhythm.Not that she needed leading. She moved her hips in slow figure eights, the light layered fabric of her dress swishing against her knees and thighs like the ocean lapping the shore. Ben slid his hand down the bare skin of her spine, warm and silky against his touch, to her lower back.He felt the twin dimples there that always seemed so sexy to him, even on human women. 

She ran her palms up along his arms and down the breadth of his chest, her gaze piercing his.Holding him. Lighting him up in ways that made him insatiably curious.And insatiably hungry.She smirked, taking his hands from her body and holding them as she swayed herself down towards the floor in slow, sweeping movements.When she straightened up again, her gaze flicked down and she leaned into him, dragging her leg up his in a torturous, languid motion and hooking it behind his knee.She ground her hips against his to the music and closed her eyes before easing herself back in an arch, anchored to him for those brief few seconds. 

Ben gazed down at her arched body, her petite breasts displayed before him with the slightest hint of cleavage that the deep V of her dress provided. The hem of her ensemble rode up her bare, tanned thigh as it tethered her to him. He ran his palm up her leg and felt the goosebumps trail in the wake of his touch.She brought her hands against her body and dragged them them towards her shoulders, caressing the contours and lines of her form. Then, she lifted her arms above her head and straightened, looping them around Ben’s neck and removing her leg from its hold on him. 

Now, they were face to face, or at least as close as they could get considering his own height.She stared so deeply into him with those emerald eyes and moved her body so in-sync with his that he wondered if they had been bewitched by the sultry rhythm and the cloying atmosphere of the bar.He glided his touch up the soft skin of her arm and took her hand, leveraging it so he could lead her in a spin.Ben gave her a half-turn and then wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her exposed back close into him.There they swayed, Ben moving his palms down to her hips as she rocked them against him.

With a light touch, he swept the long chocolate strands of her hair away from her shoulder, the bare skin of her neck nearly glowing in the dim light. 

Or…maybe it was _actually_ glowing?

He surveyed the swirling lines that curled from her nape to the tip of her shoulder.They were faintly glowing under the glisten of light perspiration that had begun to bead on her skin. It was beautiful and complimented her as if she had been born to bear those marks.But it was strange that her UV tattoos would be glowing, as the bar didn’t have any black lights that he’d noticed in the few months he’d been going there. 

He felt compelled. Perhaps her blood was calling to him.Perhaps it was just the song working it’s magic over him. Maybe it was her intoxicating scent. But he leaned down and pressed his lips to the tender curve where neck met shoulder, trailing kisses up and down and feeling her shudder against him. She tilted her head to the side to give him more access and he took her ear lobe gently between his teeth, fighting the urge to feed upon her right there on the dance floor with all to see. She let out a soft gasp and lifted her hand behind her to run her fingers deep into the locks of his hair.Pulling him into her. Asking for more.He smiled against her ear, knowing his fangs had come out at the taste of her.

“My place or yours?” he whispered as the song faded and a new one began.He recognized it but he didn’t care to think of the name. He was far too hungry.And she smelled far too good. 

She turned around and held his gaze, taking his hand in hers.“Mine.”

With that, she lead him through the dancing patrons, passing between the group of pixies and their evening partners. 

“Hey, hey.Looks like you got yourself a catch!” the blonde said to her, grinning with conspiracy. 

She smiled back at her friends.“I’ll see you tomorrow, ladies.But not all that early.I doubt I’ll be getting much sleep tonight.” 

The sound of the pixies’ raucous giggles and hollering rang in Ben’s ears as his prey hurried him out of the bar and into the misty street. 

A block and a half away from _La Striga_ , she grabbed Ben’s collar and pushed him into a shallow alcove between the glittering downtown buildings.In the shadows, she ran her hands down his chest, dragging light nails across his torso, and then her lips, warm and soft, pressed into his.It was tender at first but a ferocity quickly overtook their kiss, desperate and devouring, until they broke apart, panting.He cupped her small face in his hand, threading his fingers into her hair, and he leaned down to kiss her again. 

“We shouldn’t do this here.Someone might see us.My place isn’t far,” she whispered the moment their lips parted.The taste of her was almost too much to bare. 

He swallowed, willing his fangs back into human form.Though he didn’t care where he had sex, his goal was more to satiate hunger than lust and he certainly agreed that someone seeing that would be bad.He nodded.

“Lead on, sweetheart.”

She popped up on tip-toe and placed another sizzling kiss on his mouth before taking his hand and leading them further away from downtown. 

As they walked, he couldn’t help but think how small her hand was in his, how delicate in comparison. He didn’t often think about his prey like that —the small details that mortals both ignored and obsessed over. To his kind, those things mattered little with creatures as fragile and fleeting as humans were.But her scent — she certainly wasn’t human, by any means, and perhaps that was why he knew, even now, he was drawn to her in a way that went beyond what was natural of him.And he admitted to himself his own deep curiosity to know what exactly she was if she wasn’t human. 

“You’re awfully quiet,” she said to him, her voice carrying soft concern. 

He smirked.“You won’t be saying that after you’ve had your way with me.I’ve been known to disturb a few neighbours here and there.”He deepened his expression to a wide grinas she snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Promises, promises.”Her dimples puckered with her smile, her eyes alight with flirtatious mischief. 

He wished he had thought to call them a cab.

He ducked his head down and leaned towards her, pretending not to notice that she had entwined their fingers.“I’m Ben, by the way.”

She stopped walking and looked up at him.She seemed reluctant to say whatever was on her tongue.“I’m Marreyna. But you can call me Rey.”

Ben lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to the top of Rey’s.“It’s a pleasure to meet you this evening, Rey.”

“Likewise.”She grinned and let a cute giggle escape her. “But I hope the pleasure will be mutual.”

He laughed.Genuine and unexpected.“Don’t you worry. I know how to take instructions.”

“Good boy,” she teased, reaching up to scratch his goatee. 

Not that he wanted to be a sensitive baby about it, but had her nails always been that sharp? Cause he could have sworn they hadn’t been. 

He suddenly became aware of his surroundings.He’d been so focused — so in his head and so into her charm — that he completely lost track of where they were.Now, his boots made a hollow clatter as he stepped further down the steal bridge that led to the residential streets on the west side of the city.At this time of night, no traffic would bother them as they walked.

The mist that usually settled over the water had risen up to float low over the city streets, swirling and dancing around his ankles.But here, on the bridge, where the water glinted pale blue moonlight as it ebbed it’s way under the structure towards the sea, the mist grew thicker and rose higher until the fog engulfed them in a quiet, eerie shroud. 

Not that he was concerned.He was the scariest type of monster in Portland and nothing would disturb him from his dinner.Not unless someone or something wanted their throats ripped out. 

Still, he had a bad feeling about it. 

“So, where did you say you live again?” he asked, hoping to sound casual and not worried. 

“Just two blocks from the end of the bridge.Niima Crescent.”She squeezed his hand playfully, though he didn’t remember her having such a strong grip.“Why?You getting impatient?”

She tilted her head up to him, lips looking too delicious to bare much longer. 

He needed to feed. His hunger was growing too ravenous to suppress. 

Ben lifted her hand and gave her a graceful twirl, chuckling as he did.And when he wrapped her in his arms, face to face, he kissed her.“We don’t have to wait if we don’t want to,” he said low against her mouth, making sure his voice rumbled into her all the way to her toes. 

Rey shivered, her breath trembling. Then she balled her fists around his jacket collar and hauled him down to smother his lips with her own.Slowly, Ben backed her up against the steal structure’s railing, meeting her passion with his own until he felt her unbuttoning his jacket and teasing the bare skin under his shirt hem with her fingertips, raising goosebumps up his sides.

And raising _other_ things, too.

With a small growl that both surprised and aroused him further, Rey rolled them around so that Ben was against the cold railing.Pain bloomed in his lower lip and he flinched to spite himself. She pulled away from their kiss and stared up at him, the tilt of her eyelids dreamy and wicked.He pressed his fingers to his lip out of instinct and when he brought them away, dark blood smeared his skin. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look. Not out of anger, but out of wonder. 

She grinned. “Be careful. I’m known to bite.”

He was done. Not only was she torturously hot, but she had a thing for biting — an obvious turn on.He had to taste her.He couldn’t wait any longer. 

Ben cupped her small chin in between his fingers and pulled her into his kiss thatbegan to trail along her jawline and down the soft flesh of her throat.She gasped and his fangs transformed, ready to sink slow and deep. “Don’t worry. I like biting,” he whispered into her ear.He opened his mouth, ready to feed.

She giggled. “You won’t when I’m done with you…vampire.”

Ice daggered through his veins, all the alarms going off now.

And the last thing he saw before cold water swallowed him up was Rey flipping him over the railing as if he weighed nothing. 


	2. War of Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey goes in for the kill. But Ben has a bargain to strike that she won't be able to resist.

Rey stared down at the vampire’s splashing form in the dark water below the bridge, the ripples of his surprised struggle distorting the reflection of the LED lamps over the inlet.Without hesitation, she climbed the lowest bar of the railing and dove straight into the water a couple of feet away from him.

As soon as the cold liquid touched her skin and welcomed her home, she felt the change.

Her whole body itched and tingled as her skin sloughed off to reveal the shining golden scales protected beneath.Her back stung where her sharp spines began pushing out from her vertebrae. Her mouth ached when her teeth shifted back to their original pointed state. Her ribs split open at the sides and she inhaled deeply of the water.And while she knew the burning down the inside of her legs would be over in seconds, giving her back her tail, she had always dreaded that part of the transformation.It’s unpleasantness had once been enough to drive her away from the sea for several months. 

Finally, it was done, her dress sliding away from her lithe form. 

She watched as the vampire thrashed under the surface, trying to make heads and tails of the dark environment.But this would not do. He was a vampire, yes.But he also still had a heartbeat, which was baffling and curious at once.Too much adrenaline would spoil the taste of him and her dinner would be less than satisfying.His heart needed to be calm and still if she wanted to enjoy it. 

Letting the melody bubble up from instinct, she sang.She sang the siren’s song, deadly to mortal men but intoxicating to creatures made of stronger stuff.It permeated the water and surrounded every ebb and flow around them. As she swam to him, slow and graceful, she watched his panic fade until a placid expression wiped any hint of confusion and worry from his brow. He stopped pawing at the water, now suspended motionless in its embrace, his dark hair fanning out around his head like inky tendrils.He stared at her, blinking languidly. 

Rey swam until she was close enough to embrace him.She curled the long length of her tail around his meaty leg and caressed his handsome face, her luminescent markings casting blue light across his features. Under different circumstances, she would have liked to know him more.To have spent real time with him, laughing and talking and flirting that wasn’t meant to draw him to this spot.But she hadn’t come across vampire in weeks. And she wasn’t sure how long she could hold out to find another one. If she didn’t take him, she could starve.She dragged her hands down his throat and across his chest, where she could feel his weak, slow pulse beneath. 

Still, she hesitated. 

There was something about the sadness in the depths of his dark eyes that lingered in her, piercing her like a fisherman’s hook.She was hungry and yet she still had the fleeting thought to let him go.

Then, something lucid passed into those eyes and she realized she’d stopped singing.His brows furrowed in understanding of where he was and he gripped her wrist like an iron clamp, trying to pull her away from him.She hissed at the pain and bared her teeth, slashing out with her free hand. 

Instantly, her nails struck his face, blood staining the water red around them. He grunted with the blow but still held her at bay.Then he caught hold of her other wrist and she struggled against his strength, kicking her tail into him in hopes of freeing herself.But despite the battering, he did not let her go.

She snapped at him, hissing her anger as he kicked his long legs and spun her around through the water.Rey thrashed and yanked against his grip, knowing he couldn’t hold his breath much longer.And while he wouldn’t die from the drowning, he would be unconscious — and vulnerable. 

Folding herself into a ball, she pulled her tail up and thrust it between them, batting his wounded face with her fins as she attempted to pry herself loose with a hard push-off. 

It worked!But wait — only one arm was free. 

While he was distracted by her manoeuvre, she thrust forward through the water, feelingher wrist slide from his grasp.A couple more feet and she’d be able to dive down further and come up behind him, where he couldn’t fight back. 

Pain shot up from her tail fin and she grit her teeth.She looked back and saw he had hold of the delicate membranes, holding her in place once again. 

Whether it was hunger or true anger, she couldn’t tell.But a rage ran through her, hot and poisonous. 

She dove at him, feeling her fins rip as they tore from his hands. 

He would pay for that.Rey slammed her sharp nails into his shoulders, embedding them down to the bone.Bubbles escaped from his mouth as he cried out.She swam fast and hard, ignoring the agony in her tail, until both their bodies jarred against the impact into the rocky side of the inlet. 

He struggled, panic lighting up his dark eyes.But he was pinned solidly.All she had to do now was wait. 

Then she remembered.Her song. At least she could give him one small mercy before he died.She opened her mouth and began to let the distorted notes flow into the water around them.After a moment, his expression slackened and she felt relieved, despite everything, that he wouldn’t die afraid. 

_Smack!_

Stars and spots swam in her vision and she saw the blood before she felt the cracking pain that smashed into her skull.Without thinking, she pulled her nails free and pressed her palms gingerly to her face.He’d butted her.She was almost certain he’d broken her nose.Through the dark crimson haze that billowed around her, she saw the vampire swimming to the surface with all his might.

No.She couldn’t let him get away.She wouldn’t live long enough to find another one. 

Growling, she jetted up after him.Her injuries would have to wait. 

She reached him just as he breached the surface.Using all her strength, Rey tackled him and smashed his body hard into one of the the bridge’s concrete anchors.She heard a crunch and he growled through his teeth. His fangs were out, though they would do him no good now.She grabbed him by the throat and prepared to take her prize. 

She felt down his chest, silently counting his ribs and then dug her nails deep into the soft flesh near his diaphragm. 

“Wait!” he choked out.“Please! Hold on! Wait!” His strong hands gripped her wrists again but this time not to fight her off or try to pull her away.His touch was almost — pleading.

“I can help you get what you want.I swear,” he strained. 

She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth, halting her nails where they rested at his sternum. “And how do you know what I want?”

“Well, you’ve been trying to rip my chest open for last few minutes, which means you…probably want my heart.”He shifted under her grasp, the short hairs of his goatee scratching her scales.“I mean, not in the way most men would prefer but I get it.” He let out a hoarse chuckle.

Rey was far from amused.She hissed and pressed her nails in deeper.He grunted in pain and lifted both of his massive palms up in surrender. 

“Okay, okay, not the time, I know. But if you’re looking for hearts, I know a guy.I can call him.You don’t have to do this.”

Those sad eyes of his, now devoid of the smarmy swagger they’d boasted until the bridge, bored into her deep and unabashed.And she stared at him right back.

Did vampires have a soul?Did any of the Hidden Races?She didn’t know.But she was hungry and bleeding and had a predator of weak mortals in her grasp, ready to take what she needed from him and leave his body to dissolve in the sunlight.

“And why shouldn’t I kill you?” she spat.“You would have killed me and any other person who left with you tonight.”

A small crease formed between his brows.“Kill you?Why would I kill you?”

She sneered. “It’s what you do! You’re a vampire, after all.”

He tapped at her wrists.She knew what he was asking, but she hesitated out of spite.Finally, she released his throat and, instead, held him to the concrete pillar by his bleeding shoulders.He cried out and scowled at her.

“Really? I didn’t notice,” he ground out between his teeth, shooting her an annoyed look.She pressed his wounds harder and he growled.“Listen, _sweetheart_ , I don’t kill my prey when I feed.All vampires more than a week old know how stupid that would be to leave bodies laying around for people to start questioning.This isn’t Victorian London, in case you didn’t realize. It’s _Portland_.Even bodies floating out to sea might risk being found with all the trawlers out there.And I’m not in any hurry to be hunted, okay? _Hence_ this conversation. Now, are you going to let me go so I help you or not?”

A baited silence passed between them as they stared into each other, teeth bared and panting as their blood mingled together in the sea.If she trusted this vampire — Ben, she could very well starve to death.Or be drained dry of blood and left for dead.She wasn’t sure which option was more appealing. 

But if she trusted him, she could also discover a way to get what she needed without the risk of someone finding her kills before sunrise.She wouldn’t have to scavenge the meat from the undead to survive.The risk was great.But the potential of what he was offering was worth it. 

She hissed in contempt and released him.“Fine.But if you don’t follow through, I know exactly where my next meal is.” Rey tapped his chest with the end of her nail, holding his eyes with hers. 

He leaned in, invading her space with a a scowl.“Fine by me!” he spat. 

“Fine,” she echoed. She grabbed hold of his jacket and hauled him through the water to where the rocky banks of the inlet tapered to a minuscule patch of beach.She launched him into the shallows, hearing him splash and gasp and yelp as he clamoured onto the shore. As soon as he was out of the water, he collapsed onto his back, one knee bent. 

Rey crawled from the shallows until the sand rubbed against her belly.When her whole body no longer touched the water, she felt the change already taking a hold of her. Her scales began to pepper the sand under her like golden tears dropping to the earth, leaving her skin pink and sensitive.Her spines dropped away too, disintegrating once they hit the ground.She grit her teeth to ease the ache in her mouth.Then, she took a deep gasp as the most hated part began to burn down the centre of her tail. She dug her fingers into the sand and gripped the coarse grains, though she knew it wouldn’t help.The rip in her tail stung like salt on a wound and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. 

It would be over in a few seconds. 

Then the pain was gone and she let her breath out in pants as she absently scanned the dark sand between her elbows.The cold air felt soothing against her new skin.But she could still feel the blood clotting and oozing and crusting on her face from the fight and her foot…

She didn’t even want to see what the damage was. 

She turned her head to see if the vampire was still there.To her shock, he was staring at her, an awed, almost reverent expression on his face.His eyes were fixed on her like he couldn’t stop looking.Surely, he’d seen his fair share of naked women.His gaze was rather embarrassing. 

Rey gave him a hiss and the spell over him broke like shattered glass.He sat up, groaning and wincing when he had to move his arms.She noticed that his bleeding had already stopped.Though she imagined even a vampire would end up with scars after being cut that deeply.A part of her felt bad that she’d marred his handsome features.Though she was sure he’d find a way to use it to his advantage when he went hunting.She rolled her eyes at the thought.

“So, your place still down the street or are we walking to mine?” he asked.Amusement tinted his tone.“I’ll warn you now, mine’s across the city so I hope you don’t mind being a nudist tonight.Unless you wanna go back in there and get your dress.” 

The smirk on his face was infuriating. 

“Give me your jacket.” Her demand was accompanied by her outstretched hand and an impatient cock of her eyebrow. 

He frowned. “It’s soaked with sea water.Won’t that —“  
“It doesn’t matter!” she snapped.She knew very well how uncomfortable it would feel to have a partial change happening while she walked.But walking naked and bleeding down her street would cause more drama than she had time for.Especially traveling with _him_.“Just give it to me!”

“All right, calm down, your highness.You can have the jacket.”He began immediately trying to shrug it off, the muscles in his jaw feathering with the pain of the act. Once he slid it off his arms, he balled it and tossed it to her, spraying sand into her hair as she caught it.“And you can keep it too, since you ruined a perfectly good Armani.”

She glowered at him while she put it on.It dwarfed her frame, the sleeves overhanging her hands and the hem coming nearly mid thigh.But it covered her at least, despite the fact she could feel her new skin itching and flaking off inside the garment.As long as her spines didn’t grow back and her gills stayed shut, she’d still look and breath like a regular human girl.

A mess of a human girl but human regardless.

She rolled to her knees and tried to stand.Agony shot up from her foot as soon as she put her weight on it.Rey looked down and saw the bloody rip between her toes and she bit her lip to keep from being horrified. 

Great. This night couldn’t get any worse. 

She pushed through the pain and stood, ignoring the sting of salt and sand rubbing against her wound.Ben searched her face, his brows furrowed in silent question.Then he looked down at her foot and sprang to standing. 

“Are you okay?”

She pretended like he was absurd for asking.“Of course. I’ll be fine. Should be healed by morning.Shall we go?My house _is_ just down the street.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “Yeah, okay.Which way are we going?”

Rey took a step, jamming her nails into her palm to keep from letting her weakness show. Especially since she was in his world again and not her own.“Its down Jakku Road and hang a left at the first lights. We’ll be there in five —“

Her next step was directly onto a broken piece of rock and she couldn’t hide it this time.She stumbled and careened into the sparse grass that jutted out from between the stones.She growled in frustration.Everything had gone wrong and felt painful and she was still so hungry and —

A hand lighted on her shoulder and she flinched before realizing it was Ben.“I did this,” he said.Not a question but a statement, soft and gentle.As if he was sorry. 

She nearly decided to brush him off. But the look in his eyes, as dark and sparkling as a midnight sea, disarmed her her thinly veiled defences. She swallowed and let the hot tears she’d been biting back well up in her eyes, distorting his concerned face.They streaked down her cheeks and dripped onto her collar bone. 

Ben nodded, looking down at the ground.Then he bent further and scooped her into his arms.He groaned and his limbs shook but he held her securely.Shock mixed with confusion in her mind, his muscular arms bulging where his soaked shirt clung to him.Blood still stained the tears in the fabric at his shoulders but she could see even in the hazy moonlight that the punctures had closed over, leaving gruesome scabs behind.

“No, what are you doing?”

“There’s no way you’re going to be able to walk out of this.”He gestured with his chin at the wild, rocky bank that led up to the road.“I’ll take you as far as Jakku Road.Then, we’ll see how you do.”

“I’m fine, really.I just need to —“

“Look, I know you’re not used to relying on people but I made you a deal. Now, quit squirming.I need my balance.”

Rey searched his face, noting his long lashes and the few moles that dotted his skin like a constellation.And those full lips.She remembered how they felt against hers.How they lit her up despite her determination against it. 

Her voice sounded small even to her own ears.“But I just tried to kill you.”

Ben swallowed and met her gaze.“I know.” 

The moment hung between them until a distant siren peeled through the air from downtown.He sighed and scanned the embankment.“Okay, hold on tight,” he said.And she did as he suggested.


	3. Anthem of the Lonely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben brings an injured Rey to her home where he holds up his end of the bargain. Rey comes to an interesting decision.

Her teeth rattled against the force of his movement as he took two steps back and then launched himself forward, his powerful legs pounding the sand beneath them. Then, the beach was far below and she closed her eyes at the vertigo of being airborne.She pressed her face into his collar and clung for dear life. With a grunt, they both jostled at the impact of his landing.But she didn’t pull her face away until he had completely stopped moving. 

“It’s over,” he said, soft and low. 

She pretended her actions had been the result of blood loss and pain instead of fear.Whether she wanted to admit it or not, his leap up the embankment had nearly made her lose whatever contents were still in her stomach. 

When they reached Jakku Road, Ben set her down on her feet, as he had said. 

At first, she nearly tumbled, head over heels, into the asphalt.But he gripped her arm and gave her some stability while she built up the strength to hobble on. Every step stabbed into her foot and up her leg but she held her lip between her teeth and plodded on, with Ben walking next to her like a shadow.

A big, beefy shadow. 

They got to her house in less than record time and Ben had to help her up the porch stairs so she could find the hide-a-key.When she opened the cedar wood door, the scent of home greeted her senses and she nearly cried with relief. Her place wasn’t very large — a one-bedroom bungalow sandwiched between two larger houses.She’d bought it off one of the elderly pixies in the community when he’d decided to migrate back to his own land and be with his family again. At times, the house smelled a bit musty, especially inside the closets, but that was too minor of a complaint to even give it her time.This was her cozy little home and while it wasn’t the sea, she could still smell the briny water on the air when she opened the windows.

Grabbing hold of the walls for leverage, Rey limped further inside, flicking on the lights as she went.She needed to get her foot cleaned and wrapped before her healing trapped any infection. 

“Don’t mind the mess,” she called out.“Just kick your shoes off at the door and I’ll try to find you something to —“Rey couldn’t feel his presence behind her anymore and she pivoted to see where he’d gone.She found him still standing outside the front door, his dark eyes curious and a bit forlorn. “Why aren’t you coming in?”

“Uh, well, I wasn’t invited in…technically.”He scratched at his neck and then smirked, all traces of the precious sadness gone now.“You know… _vampire_.”

She blinked a couple of times before it clicked.He _couldn’t_ come in.Not unless she said so. “Oh, right. Well then…”She gave him a slight jerk of her head, indicting her invitation. 

Cautiously, he put his hand over the threshold, as if he were waiting for it to bite him.When nothing happened, he entered her house.For a moment, he stood in the small open foyer, taking everything in with a scrutinizing gaze. 

His features were so handsome, even with the slash across his face that was nearly healed over now.Something about the cut of his jaw and nose and lips…

She pulled her attention back to searching the kitchen drawers for gauze.

“This….isn’t what I expected,”he said, his voice soft but amused.

She turned and cocked an eyebrow. “And what exactly _did_ you expect?A cavern of thingamabobs and a talking crab?”She gave him a sardonic smile.

He laughed. “Yeah, well it’s not my fault they get the Hidden Races all wrong.The world still thinks garlic and crosses keeps vampires away.It’s pretty bold of them to assume that eating Italian at a church luncheon is something I wouldn’t do for the hell of it.” Ben sauntered over to the kitchen counter and leaned down on it.At that level, they could see eye to eye. “I mean, the spaghetti bolognese those old church crones make _is_ fantastic.I’ll give them that.” 

Rey opened another drawer and rummaged around, acutely aware of his proximity. “So you eat regular food?I thought vampires couldn’t do that.”

“We can.Or at least my kind can.But it’s more like eating junk food for us — it gives us nothing of value.In order to stay alive, we have to feed.”

After yet another drawer yielded nothing that she needed, she slammed it closed and swore.Irritated by the pain and sudden realization that she’d bled all over the tile floor, she pressed her finger tips to her temples.She sighed.“Could you go into my bathroom and check for the disinfectant? And the gauze? It’ll be much faster if you do it.” 

He nodded, amusement still infuriatingly ghosted upon his mouth. Then, he disappeared down the hall. 

“Second door on the left.”

In a few moments, he returned with the supplies she asked for — along with a thick towel — and nodded her over to one of her kitchen chairs, where she sat at his command.Didn’t much like being told what to do, but whatever.“I can do this myself you know.”

“I do.But it’ll be faster and more efficient if I do it. So just sit down and don’t squirm.This is probably going to hurt, so don’t hit me.I gave you full warning.”

“That’s fine. It’s nothing I haven’t felt before.”With that, he kneeled down before her and took her injured foot in his hand, gentle and delicate for someone with massive hands like he had.He sprayed the disinfectant over her wound and she winced at the intensity of the stinging, like a thousand hot, prickling needles stabbing her at once.But in a moment, it subsided and he began opening up the package of gauze to bind it.His technique was precise and neat, almost like what she’d seen in the Hidden Hospitals.When he was done, he ducked his head low and placed a light kiss on the top of her foot. 

“There.If your healing is any good, it should be better in a couple of hours.”

She nodded.“Thank you.”

There was a tense silence as he stood and leaned his back against the counter, vigorously drying himself with the towel.The action tousled his inky locks, curling them even more than before. 

It was more adorable than she cared to admit. 

She cleared her throat.“Erh, I can pop those in the dryer downstairs for you if you want.”

His expression was devilishly playful.“As entertaining as watching you stumble downstairs after seeing me naked would be, I’m not that cruel.Well, not usually.Besides, you’re still wearing my jacket.So ladies first.”

Rey grabbed the pen from the table and launched it at the vampire.It was a shame it didn’t poke his cheeky little eyes out. She shrugged into his enormous jacket further, trying to push away the memory of his hands on her body and his lips on her skin. 

“If you want your jacket back, you can at least get my robe from the closet like a _gentleman_.Besides, it’s starting to itch.”

He pushed off from where his large frame leaned against the counter and went to her closet.When came back with her butter-yellow robe, she took it and motioned for him to turn around. He raised an eyebrow.

“You know I’ve already seen you naked, right?” 

She hissed at him and he raised his hands in surrender before turning around.She slid the wet jacket down her shoulders, wincing at the slough of skin that went with it, and gingerly put her half-scaled arms into the soft cotton fabric.When she had wrapped herself securely, she cleared her throat and Ben turned back around. 

She held out his enormous jacket as she spoke. “What did you mean earlier when you said ‘your’ kind?”

He swung his it over the back of the chair and glanced at the clock above the sink. “Before I answer that, I should call my guy.Have him do delivery.” He patted himself down and with a fall of his expression, pulled a smartphone out of his pocket.Water dribbled out of it and he tossed it onto the counter. “Guess I needed an upgrade anyway. Do you have a phone I can use?”

Rey hobbled over to the counter and opened the cupboard, grabbing her phone from it’s place between the popcorn packages. “Delivery?Like a pizza?What does this guy of yours do?” she said, unlocking her screen and handing him her phone. 

“He’s a lycan. All of his family is too. One of the oldest werewolf clans in New England.His parents run the largest funeral home in Portland and they sell the unused organs to the Hidden Races through their pizza shop, which this guy runs with his brothers.”

As he dialled the number, she stared at him, not quite sure of what she’d just heard him say. “I’m sorry, that sounds like something from a television show.”

“Rey, _we_ sound like something from a television show.” He pressed the mobile to his ear and took a walk down the hall.

“Fair point,” she mumbled to herself.But if this place was so popular with the Hidden Races, how come she’d never heard of it and why hadn’t the pixies mentioned it to her all these years?

“Does it matter about sex?” Ben called from down the hall.

“Excuse me?Who said anything about sex being on the table?”

He appeared from the around the corner, grinning like a cheshire cat.“I meant the hearts.Does it matter what sex they’re from?”

Heat scorched her face and she dropped her eyes to the floor, hoping he didn’t see it.“Oh…no.It’s all the same, really.”

He nodded and gave her a wink before plodding back down the hall. By the time she sat back down on the kitchen chair, facing in towards the table, she heard him say his goodbyes on the phone.

She waited a beat before speaking. “So, what did you mean by —“ 

Rey nearly jumped out of her skin when a shadow in the corner of her eye caught her attention and Ben was right there beside her.Shit, he moved fast on land. 

“What makes you think sex would only be on the table? I’ve been around a while.I know how to get creative.” He grinned and took a seat next to her.

The heat intensified all over her body until her skin felt itchy and uncomfortable.Damn. When had she become such a child?It wasn’t like she hadn’t screwed before, though she admitted to no one but herself how long ago the last time had been.She swallowed down that thought and scowled.

“ _What did you mean by ‘your’ kind_?”She held her lips terse to prompt him into being serious for half a bloody second. 

His impish grin faded, though amusement still played at his features, much to her chagrin. “I’m sure you noticed I have a heart beat.”

“Yeah, I’ve been curious about that. I haven’t met another vampire with a beating heart before.” Even now, she could hear it languidly pumping behind his ribcage when she focused her senses. 

He leaned forward, fiddling with the hem of his damp sleeve. “Well, that’s because I’m a born vampire.We aren’t turned upon death like the majority of them.We’re born to vampire parents.Which gives us certain advantages over other vampires.”

She raised her brow. “Like what kinds of advantages?”

“For starters, we’re resistant to sunlight, so instead of bursting into ash at the first hint of day, we get really bad sunburns if we don’t protect ourselves.”

Rey couldn’t help the cheeky flare of her nostrils nor the smirk that fought to escape its confines.She folded her arms and leaned back against the wooden rungs of the chair.“Like, SPF 2000?”

Ben made a face and narrowed his eyes. “No, smartass.Like covering up with fabric.The more fabric between us and the sun, the less chance of burning.”

“Huh. I know a few humans who are like that,” she quipped. “And what else?”

He scanned the table in thought and then pulled in the small cup of cashews that she kept there in case she needed a snack before hunting.He popped a couple into his mouth and chewed while he spoke. “Like I said before, we can stomach human food. And our hearts beat.Very slowly but they do beat.”He finished off the nuts in one mouthful and then reached his long arm across the short expanse between table and counter to deposit the little cup. He winced and abandoned the action, rubbing at the tear in his shirt shoulder where his wound had sealed. “The down side though is that we don’t heal as fast as the others. Which as you can imagine right now, is really fucking inconvenient.”

She ducked her head, feeling a pang of guilt.“Sorry. I didn’t…I was just…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.You did what you had to.I know what that’s like.”

Why was he being so forgiving?She’d almost killed him to rip out his heart and eat it with bacon and onions. But I guess since he’d had his own agenda — mainly to drink her blood until she was unconscious — perhaps his empathy was a little self-serving. 

“So, if vampires can have children, why aren’t there more of you…born ones, I mean?”

He stood up and went to the sink, wringing the end of his shirt over it. “Usually only the oldest of the born clans end up conceiving and it’s still rare.The turned can’t reproduce as far as I know.”

“Then, how did the born vampires come about then, if they weren’t turned?” she asked.A chicken and the egg logic danced in the back of her mind, making her head hurt.Or perhaps that was just the hunger.

He laughed. “Damned if I know.It was so long ago that no one really remembers, except that it involved some sort of abyssal pact or some other mumbo jumbo. My family alone goes back to the eleventh century and even we don’t have any real record of it.”

Rey let out a low whistle. “How old does that make you then?”

His easy smirk tipped the the edges of his full lips. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to ask a vampire their age?”

“Ha ha. _Very_ funny,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, _I_ thought so,” he mumbled.He turned from the sink and sat back down. “I’m the youngest in my coven and in my family. I was born in 1884 in New York City.” 

Her brows lifted heavenward and she sucked in a breath. “Wow…I definitely wasn’t expecting that answer.I shouldn’t be surprised…but I am. You’re… _much_ older than me.”

He shrugged and leaned back in the chair. “Meh.I’m much older than everybody. It comes with the territory.”

Just then, the doorbell rang, sending a slice of pain into her already splitting head.Must be that delivery, though it had come awfully fast.She made a move to get up but Ben placed his massive hand over hers, gently trapping it against the table in a blanket of warmth that she didn’t expect from a vampire.

“Wait here.It’ll get it,” he said. 

And just like that, the soothing sensation disappeared from her hand when he got up to get the door.To her surprise, she was disappointed. 

Voices exchanged at the door and the scent of lycans wafted in with the sea breeze.She wrinkled her nose but smoothed her features when Ben returned to the table with a pizza box.It smelled like fresh meat and her palette ached and watered in response. 

When Ben opened the box, Rey nearly burst into sobs.Inside, lay five neatly arranged hearts, the fatty casings still enclosing their forms.That was enough to last her _months_.Ben smiled, seemingly satisfied with whatever he’d planned.

“Is…is this all for _me_?” she said quietly.She couldn’t look him in the eyes.Not after what happened at the bridge. 

“Yeah, well I figured I’d use my discount to top you up for a while.Then you can order as you like. I already saved their number on your phone after I called.”He cocked an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. “You’re welcome.”

Rey swallowed.“I…I don’t…thank you.You don’t know what this means to me.”

He gave small nod.When he leaned back into the table, his deep brown eyes danced with sparkles from the over-head kitchen lights, making them look like stars. “So, you going to dive in or what?Don’t waste propriety on me. Vampire, remember?”

She shot him an annoyed look.“What, you want me to just tear one apart with my bare teeth?”

“Uh…” his smarmy expression turned to stunned confusion.“Isn’t that what you normally do?”

“I may be brutal in my hunting but I’m not _uncivilized_. Honestly, you vamps are so single-minded.”She shook her head, lifting the biggest heart out of the pizza box and hobbling to the counter.Already, her foot hurt less than before. 

“So what _do_ you with them, then? Throw them in a stir fry? Put them in the crockpot?”

“Cut and sautéed with olive oil, garlic and paprika actually.”She pulled a large knife from the kitchen block and began slicing up the heart in strips. “How does a vampire know what a crockpot is, anyway?”

Ben snorted.“I’m a hundred and thirty six years old, sweetheart. Of course I know what a crockpot is.”

Rey looked at him from over her shoulder. “You keep calling me that.Usually, you’d have a broken nose by now but since you bought me dinner, I’ll allow it.”

Ben gave a casual shrug as he sunk down further into the chair.Even slouching, his broad frame made it look like a piece of child’s furniture.“Sorry.Old habit. My father used to call my mother that all the time when I was growing up.Both in annoyance and in affection. Guess it stuck more than I realized.”

“He used to?”She scooped the sliced meat into the sauce pan and doused it with oil.

“He died.A long time ago.”

Rey blushed.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to bring up old wounds.”

“It’s alright. My father was a smuggler out of New York harbour.My mother turned him shortly after she realized she was pregnant with his child.He was killed during a storm in 1928.Broken rigging right through the chest.”He tapped his own sternum for reference. 

Rey turned to focus on her cooking, not really knowing what to say. 

“So that part of the rumours are true then,” she finally managed. 

“Yes,” he said.His voice was rough and low. And despite the hint of melancholy that edged the atmosphere, his tone made her shiver.“But, enough about me.I want to know about you.How did you get here and why have you stayed?I’ve been in Portland for nearly two decades and I’ve never come across your kind before.”

“Nor would you,” she said, stirring in the garlic.The meal smelled so good that it took all of her will power not to burn herself trying to scarf it down right that instant. “The water is too shallow here for the merfolk to live. We prefer the deep sea.”

“Then how you did you get here?Tell me everything.”

She pulled a plate from the cupboard and dumped the contents of the pan into it.She plunked down in the opposite kitchen chair.“There’s not much to tell, really.I used to belong to a pod when I was a child.But I was abandoned and beached before I was even old enough to fully learn our language. I know my parents are out there somewhere, but I don’t think they want me back even if I did find them again. But, fortunately, I was found by a group of fairies who gave me to the pixies to raise as their own.It wasn’t the sea, but it wasn’t horrible, either.I went to school with other Fair Folk.Joined swim club with the nixies and kelpies.It’s been overall a good life so far. Though, I wish…I wish I had even one of kind here.It’s hard to relate to the Fair Folk sometimes. ”

“Yeah, no kidding.Those fairies are ridiculous.”She shot him a scowl.“Well, they are!”He ran his fingers through the damp curls that hung down well passed his ears. “What about the vampire hearts?I’m dying to know the story behind that…pardon the pun.” 

She stabbed three pieces of heart with her fork and stuffed them greedily into her gob. As soon as they touched her tongue, her eyes watered and her stomach growled in anticipation.She answered him through her mouthful. “My people can eat anything for the most part, but we need a certain amount of cardiac protein in our diet in order to process the other food we eat.I haven’t figured out why, but we do.If we don’t have it, we can’t digest other things and essentially, we starve.In the sea, I saw a single whale heart sustain my pod for weeks.I nearly died when I was younger when the pixies took me in, not knowing this.They had to research it before I was well again.”

“But why vampires?Why not cow or horse hearts? I’m sure they’d beeasier to find…and much less effort to get.”

Rey stuffed her mouth with another bite.“Apparently, it has to be from something we are part of…either of the sea or of humanity.And since vampires are both already dead and technically human, it made sense to hunt them.Besides,” she added, waving her fork, “they feed on mortals.I thought it was only fair to feast on them too.”She shrugged when Ben stared at her.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that last bit.”He shot her a pointed glance. 

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.You do what you must to survive.And avoid leaving bodies and carcasses in your wake. I guess we’re not all that different after all.”He shifted his weight in the seat, a barely contained smirk straining to be set free on his face. “Although, _my_ prey usually live long and happy lives after I’m done with them.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and scowled. “You want a gold medal?”

He raised his brows, baiting her.He leaned forward, brushing a damp strand of hair behind her ear. His voice rumbled low and infuriatingly delicious. “Maybe I do.”

Annoyance melted into something hot and urgent inside of her.She swallowed, trying to forget the way his lips felt against hers.She failed miserably. 

But as the taste of her meal lingered in her mouth, Rey felt a sympathy for the vampire.For Ben. And despite everything in her wild instincts telling her not to, she came to decision.

She sighed and leaned forward, mirroring him.“I want you to bite me.”


End file.
